Obviously I am fired up. This is the first and what I assume will be my only entry in regards to this particular subject; sports. To get it started, I will say being an athlete always has its perks. I never played quarterback or starting forward for any school or outside organization, but I did run track and cross country and I was on the swim team. During those times I had hit a few snags where I should have gotten in trouble or maybe even graded a bit more harshly. But those times were during track season and I was shown a little leniency.
I was no All-star but I was fairly decent in some areas and had a good attitude on the team. Being a part of a winning team and playing a role in the victory is something a lot of people rally behind because the bigger the crowd, the bigger the hero, the bigger the rewards. It is essentially a great business model for rewarding the best employees. My concern is that athletes are now being rewarded with compensation that is beyond monetary value and just the old fashioned hookers and blow; they are given the ability to not follow the law. This may come as a shocker to you but apparently this has been going on for awhile. (Taste the sarcasm)
On March 14th Donte Stallworth killed a 59-year-old man who was coming home from his third shift job. He didn’t shoot him or viciously beat him over an argument on how terrible the Cleveland Browns season went last year. Donte was drunk and smashed into Mario Reys with his Bently, killing him. He will serve a 30 day jail sentence and pay the grieving family a cash settlement. I imagine it will be somewhere in the millions, but when you make five million a year, who’s counting.
What irks me is that one, a thirty day sentence is bullshit for snuffing somebody out, two, it’s another example of the wealthy being untouchable within or justice system, like I have always said, poor people go to jail, rich people go to rehab. I guess what I am getting to is that we need to stop treating athletes like superheroes. Don’t get me wrong. Peyton Manning is a hero. His works with charities and hospitals and he deserves a holiday for being a great role model and a fantastic quarterback. But he is an exception to the role.
Leonard Little of the Rams killed a woman in 1998 during a drunk driving accident and he had an 8-game suspension, I mean what the hell not only was this less then a slap on the wrist, but he played for the Rams… and they are terrible anyway.
I could spend my entire evening typing up professional athletes and there rap sheets but my computer only holds about sixteen gigs and I don’t want to waste it. I know there are a lot of press releases out there with athletes commenting that they do not want to be idolized and worshiped. They plead that they are just regular people with a job to do and their not role models. I give them props for stepping up and admitting that they are just a regular guy with a good jump shot. Let’s face facts. More kids want to be Michael Jordan then Michael Bennet (Senator of Colorado). Personally I wanted to grow up and be Spider-Man.
This is not really a current trend. Ty Cobb beat a man with a telephone unit and in his day and was a wife beater. Back then that was an eight dollar fine. As fans and citizens we have let this get out of control. Really at the point of the O.J. trial we set the standard on how far one can go if they’re famous. We all know he did it, he wrote a book describing how he “would have done it” if it was him. The guy had the guts to write a book describing him killing his ex and her friend after he got off the hook.
We really need to start treating these guys like regular people. I’ll understand if Kobe gets a better table then me in a restaurant, but if he rapes someone I’m friends with, he needs to go to jail. Judges and juries need to stop letting these guys off with fines and house arrest, they are no better then the rest of us, some of them do not even have a high school education but get to drive Ferraris. I think putting them in jail for raping and murder is not too much to ask for. It’s sad when the better action for a sports team is at a nightclub brawl then what they are actually doing in the area. Go Pacers…
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It's amazing how most people treat pro athletes like gods, but very few of them have any redeeming qualities whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteWell Jeffrey I just don't know if I agree with this one...the stallworth case is an interesting one because not only was he a pro-fooseball player but he also acted as a professional throughout the process. The facts are the facts, he hit and killed a pedestrian while driving drunk. That is the reality of the case, but he accepted complete responsibility...he didnt try to run after the accident, he didnt try and have his lawyers talk their way out of it, he didn't try and get the trial put off for years (see Plaxico Burress). He acted like a man and was punished accordingly. A major factor on why the case went so quickly was the daughter of the man killed asked to end the case as soon as possible. While only 30 days of jailtime seems short, the 10 years he will spend on probation and 2 years of house arrest are not a joke. He will never be able to drive again (and if I was a pro player getting drunk, you best believe I would have a driver already). There was also a hefty out of court settlement that will allow his daughter some financial comfort. This case should be applauded for the way it was handled from all sides, it doesn't have to end with someone wasting away in a prison cell...thats the problem with our justice system, it believes that retribution is found through locking people away, this case goes to show that it doesn't have to work that way, that punishment fits the crime and when its a tradegy such as this, throwing a way another life isn't neccesary. Go Packers.
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